All throughout his life, Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Ballesteros
Honasan II had been a consistent achiever. Born on Match 14, 1948 in
Baguio City to Colonel Romeo Honasan and Alice Ballesteros, both of
Sorsogon Province, Sen. Honasan already exhibited above average
intellectual and leadership abilities even in his younger years.

During his elementary and secondary education both here and abroad,
Honasan was an outstanding student who was accelerated into the
higher grades at the San Beda College and Dominican School in
Taipei, Taiwan and the Don Bosco High School in Mandaluyong. At the
Philippine Military Academy where he took his Bachelor of Science in
1971, he received the academy’s highest leadership award and became
the Class Baron.

After joining the Philippine Army in the same year, he went into
combat duty in Luzon and Mindanao. It was in Mindanao where he was
wounded in action at the battles of Lebak, Mindanao and Jolo, Sulu.

Honasan’s distinguished performance in the military earned him three
(3) Distinguished Stars of Counter Insurgency Operations Against
Economic Saboteurs and Drug Traffickers. Aside from the three (3)
Gold Cross Medals for Gallantry in Action in the Battles of Lebak,
Jolo and Zamboanga in 1973 to 1974, he also received awards such as
Military Merit Medals, Military Commendation Medals, Anti-Insurgency
Medals, Anti-Secessionist Medals and Wounded Personnel Medals for
wounds sustained in actual combat, among others.

Then Lt. Honasan served as Aide-de-Camp to the Secretary of National
Defense in 1974 and later became the department’s Chief of Security.
And, after leading three (3) successful operations against
Insurgents, Economic Saboteurs and Drug Traffickers, Honasan became
one of the youngest full colonels in Philippine history.

Because of his consistent excellence in the military, he was awarded
one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men for Military Service by the
Jaycees.

In 1986, he was awarded by then President Corazon Aquino with a
Distinguished Conduct Star for the EDSA Revolution and the
Presidential Government Medal in 1986. He then became the Commandant
of Special Operations School at the Philippine Army Training Command
in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija in 1986 to 1987.

When Honasan finally entered politics in 1995, he became the first
independent candidate in Philippine history to win a Senate seat.

As a neophyte lawmaker in the 10th Congress, he filed 144 bills and
44 resolutions. In the 11th Congress, Honasan has so far filed 64
bills and 63 resolutions.

Among his noteworthy bills signed into law were:

Republic Act Number 8368 - a law that decriminalized squatting.

Republic Act Number 8437 - which extends the period of effectivity
of the Rent Control Law, from January 1, 1998 until December 31,
2001

Republic Act Number 8501 - Condones penalties imposed by government
agencies that are involved in the National Housing Program, all of
which have detrimental effect on intended socialized housing program
beneficiaries;

Republic Act Number 8532 - Increases the Agrarian Reform Fund to
Fifty Billion Pesos that will be used to finance production,
credits, infrastructure and other support services and is intended
to speed up the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program and will benefit 4,000,000 tillers of land and the
agricultural sector;

Concurrent Resolution Number 5 - concurring with the Proclamation
number 21 of the Republic of the Philippines, entitled: “Further
Amending Proclamation Number 347 Granting Amnesty to Rebels,
Insurgents And All Other Persons Who Have Or May Have Committed
Crimes In Furtherance Of Political Ends, And Violations Of The
Articles Of War, And Creating A National Amnesty Commission, As
Amended ” ; and

Republic Act Number 8749, otherwise known as the Clean Air Act (An
Act Providing for a Comprehensive Air Pollution Policy and For Other
Purposes). This landmark legislation ensures the people’s right to
breath clean air via clean fuels, emission regulation, and a ban on
incinerators, among others. About 20 Million residents are its
projected beneficiaries.

The legislative agenda of Senator Honasan for the 11th Congress
revolves around Good Government and Efficient Bureaucracy; Reforms
in AFP and PNP; Industrialization and Genuine Economic Development ;
Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and Management; Good
Education for all and Opportunities for the Marginalized Sectors.

His legislative priorities for the 12th Congress are:

The Land Use Act - an Act providing for the national land use policy
and planning network and the implementing mechanism

Clean Water Act - an Act providing for a comprehensive water
resource policy and water sector development, creating the water
resources management commission and for other purposes;

An Act Declaring a National Peace Policy - creating the Commission
on Peace and for other purposes falls under the Committee on Peace,
Unification and Reconciliation;

OTHER NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Author of the Mini-Marshall Plan for Mindanao, otherwise known as
the Mindanao Aid Plan or the . The Plan was a comprehensive
blueprint for Mindanao’s socio-economic development following the
region’s devastation due to the full scale military offensive
against the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

To date, his sponsored over 200 Medical-Dental-Surgical Missions in
depressed areas of the country, serving at least 20,000 indigent
patients.

Prime mover of the National Security Strategy Framework which seeks
to define the country’s national security and strategy in the light
of internal and external security threats and the consequent
National Peace Policy.

Regularly distributes relief assistance to calamity-hit areas in the
country through his Gregorio B. Honasan Peace and Development
Foundation founded in 1995.

Served thousands of constituents requesting for claims for PVAO, SSS
and AFP/PNP claims and refund of teachers’ loans through his Public
Service Program aired over RMN-DZXL and DZRH-Radyo Natin and Gringo
Honasan Reports aired over RPN-9 and PTV-4